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Land conveyances by feet of fines 1182-1833
Online version: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk > Records > In-depth research guides > Land conveyances by feet of fines 1182-1833

Fines, also known as final concords, are written in a standard form. They are mostly in Latin until 1733, except for a short period between 1650 and 1660 where English was used.

Often the fine is one of a series of conveyancing deeds some of which may give more detail about the property. These deeds were private documents and are usually kept in local and private archives, although some have ended up at The National Archives.

To find the locally held deeds, search our catalogue and refine your results using the filters. Try searching by family name or locality with the word 'deed' or 'deeds'.

For deeds at The National Archives try using keywords 'ancient deeds' or 'modern deeds.

3. Terms you might come across

4. What are feet of fines?

Feet of fines are court copies of agreements following disputes over property. In reality, the disputes were mostly fictitious and were simply a way of having the transfer of ownership of land recorded officially by the king's court.

The agreements were normally written out three times on a single sheet of parchment - two copies side by side and one copy across the bottom (the foot) of the sheet, separated by an indented or wavy line.

The purchaser kept one copy, the seller the other and the final copy - 'the foot of the fine'- was kept by the king's court as a central record of the conveyance.

Using one piece of parchment separated in this way gave protection against fraud or forgery as only the genuine copies would fit together - like a jigsaw.

6. Feet of fines before 1509: CP 25/1

6.1 Background

Medieval feet of fines made before the royal courts of law 1195-1509 are in record series CP 25/1. Read the series description in the catalogue for a full account of how these records were created and are arranged.

'Feet' as such run from 1195, although there are some earlier concords in this series dating back to 1182.

Medieval fines are significant as they are often the only surviving record of a transfer. Post-medieval fines were normally taken out in addition to other types of deed transferring the property.

There is no single comprehensive index of people or places for the medieval feet of fines, but there are some miscellaneous indexes covering particular periods and counties, mainly compiled in the 17th century, in IND 1/7178-7232.

You should find that an entry in a calendar gives you the reference to the original document (CP 25/ followed by other numbers). If you find an abstract of a document on a website you may not need to see the original document.

6.3 How to search our catalogue for feet of fines in CP 25/1

If you can't find what you need using the calendars, browse CP 25/1 in our catalogue. Most series are arranged by county and then in rough chronological order.

which relate to property in more than one county - 'divers counties' files

where the county is not obvious - 'unknown counties' files

where they were omitted from the main county sequence - 'various counties' files

To find all the fines relating to a particular county for a particular period, all these sub-series should be checked.

When you find the right item, make a note of the reference which will be CP 25/1 followed by another number. With this reference you will be able to visit us at Kew and order the original document. Alternatively you can enquire about having copies made and sent to you.

If you can't find a calendar covering the county and period you are interested in, use the following to identify which feet ought to survive for a particular county in CP 25/2:

the contemporary chronological indexes to the related Notes of Fines (CP 26/1-14)

drafts of the final concords

CP 26/1-14 are arranged by regnal year and legal term and then, within each term, by county, with separate groups for fines relating to properties in more than one county. Browse the catalogue descriptions to identify those relevant to your research.

As with the fines themselves, the index entries are in Latin until 1733. Until 1759, each entry gives the name of the querent (purchaser), the name of the deforciant (vendor) and the name of the place(s) where the property lay. After 1759, only names of county and parties are given.

7.2 Using our catalogue to identify documents

You must now translate references you find into a piece within CP 25/2. Browse CP 25/2 by hierarchy and pick the relevant county. Then within this county pick the relevant regnal year and legal term (Michaelmas, Hilary and so on).

For example CP 25/2/389/11JasIHil refers to the Hilary session of the 11 year of James I's reign.